Hymn-ful Sundays! "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the season in the liturgical tradition which prepares us for the Christmas celebration. Thus for today I have chosen a well-known traditional Advent hymn, which dates from the 12th century. It is said that this hymn has several contributors, so there isn't a single author, but it was translated from Latin by John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest and hymn-writer in the 19th century. The versions of verses vary, especially for the later verses, so I have chosen the version most familiar to me. 

Biweekly Bits #22: Tell others how much you appreciate them

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Tell people how much you appreciate them. This past year, one of my favorite secondary school teachers passed away quite suddenly. She made a huge impact on my life, and taught me how to dodge markers aimed at my head, as well as the most excellent Spanish (I stopped Spanish after 5th form/10th grade and my senior year of college I took the Spanish placement exam and placed into 300-level Spanish [i.e. almost SIX years later]). I never got to tell her how much I appreciated her, or even that I ended up being a language major in college. How I wish I had.

There's a saying, "Give people their flowers while they're alive." You know, when they can still smell them, when they can appreciate their beauty and feel the love with which they were given.

When you're young, sayings like that don't mean much to you: you think that everyone is going to live forever, yourself included. But then someone passes away suddenly -- an accident, an undiagnosed health condition, a sudden illness, a crime snatches them away from you all too soon. Then you realize, life isn't forever, and someone, anyone could die before you were able to tell them how much they meant to you, how much of an impact they had on your life, or how much you looked up to them. And you're left thinking, If only I'd said "I love you" one more time, or I wish I could have told her how much she meant to me.

When my secondary school Spanish teacher, Mrs. Wilson passed away suddenly last year, I was shocked. She was my mother's peer at school, so she wasn't an old woman. She was vibrant and inspiring. She was a phenomenal teacher and not only taught me some excellent Spanish, but she encouraged me so that I was confident in using the Spanish that I knew, and figuring out how to work around what I didn't know. I never got to tell her how much she inspired and impacted me, or that I'd decided halfway through college to add a language major. (I also still have her copy of Punto por Punto but I never told you that, because I'm still afraid of her.)

I wish that I could tell her what her teaching, both Spanish lessons and life lessons meant to me. I wish I could tell her what an amazing woman she was. But she is already gone, so I'm hoping that she knew. Instead, I will tell the other inspiring, impactful people in my life how much they mean to me, how much I admire them. I encourage you to do the same.

Be blessed and shine with appreciation!

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Hymn-ful Sundays! "We Plough the Fields and Scatter"

This week's hymn is one by German poet Matthias Claudius in the late eighteenth century. Matthias' father was a Lutheran pastor, and he originally went to university to study theology, but then changed his course of student to law and languages. He wrote many many poems, several of which were under the name Asmus. His work includes the poem Death and the Maiden, which was used in a composition by Franz Schubert. He turned to writing religious works after a grave illness caused him to return to the faith of his childhood. 

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Jesus Calls us o'er the Tumult"

Our hymn this week is the work of Cecil Frances Alexander, an Irish nineteenth century hymnwriter and poet. "Fanny" as she was best known, began writing at an early age, and wrote many many poems and hymns, including some well-known children's hymns. In fact, hymns for children was her specialty. This week's hymn is one of the few that she wrote that weren't for children.

Biweekly Bits #21: Let your grain die

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24). Your greatest impact is found in dying to self. If you're just caught up in you, you can't bear any fruit. I'm pretty sure this verse will teach me many more lessons in life.

I never noticed this verse in John until a few years ago, but it has stuck with me ever since. These words of Jesus speak one of the greatest truths of Christ's life on earth and our responsibility as we walk with Him. This truth is that service costs us.

And serving does come with a cost. It requires us to put ourselves, our desires and wishes aside for the good of others. If each of us is a grain of wheat, it is only in allowing ourselves to be used by God, to be emptied of ourselves, that we can multiply and have impact.

Too often we have this individualistic view of service and ministry, which can make us lose sight of our goal, which is Christ, and spreading the Gospel throughout the earth. Too often we are afraid to take risks in our walk with God, not knowing that it is only by the death of that single grain that new life can come to many. Something must be sown for the harvest to be reaped.

So today I challenge you to focus on where in your life you've been afraid to let your grain of wheat die. I challenge you to allow the fruit resulting from your grain to be nourished and grown. Let us live a life of service to others, for it bears much fruit.

Be blessed and shine, bearing much fruit!

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Hymn-ful Sundays! "O Happy Day"

This week's hymn is by Philip Doddridge, and eighteenth century writer, teacher and hymn-writer in Britain. Doddridge was the youngest of twenty (!) children, and a clergyman of an independent church in Britain.

Heart's Desires

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

I used to think that verse meant that if I loved God and if I delighted in Him, God would give me what I really wanted. I mean, that's basically what it says right?

But I have (slowly) come to realise that if that was all that I ever understood from that verse, I'd be missing out on a whole lot. And if I try to delight myself in the Lord because I want things or so that I can have my heart's desire, then I'm really not delighting in the Lord.

The entire psalm, one of the many written by David, talks about patience and trust in God. David's words came at a time in life where he was trusting God to make things right. His delight was in the Lord not so that the Lord would be on his side, but because he knew that the Lord was faithful to his people.

But David was a man who went all in (and all out) when it came to God. When he took delight in God, God became the desire of his heart. That's why David also wrote the words "my soul thirsts after you in a dry and weary land"(Ps 63:1) and "one thing...will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Ps 27:4). In his wholehearted pursuit of God, his desire turned to God only. All the other things that might have crowded his heart, clamoring for his attention were silenced. Once his focus was on God, none of those things mattered, yet they were all taken care of.

AW Tozer writes this in The Pursuit of God: 

The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our great woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

And David isn't the only place in the Bible where God shows us what our hearts desires should be. David's words here foreshadow those of Jesus which came several hundred years afterward: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt 6:33), and those of Paul years after that "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." (Phil 4:4)

It is in taking our delight in God, pursuing God, making God alone the cry of our hearts that we can truly receive, or even understand the fullness of true prosperity, which is not limited by the extent of what our minds can perceive. Delighting in God, desiring God is a positive feedback loop where in wanting God and getting Him, we want Him all the more.

So truly take delight in the Lord, and make Him the desire of your heart. Pursue God, seek Him, for God has never yet forsaken the righteous. Let us work on changing the desires of our hearts

Be blessed and shine with new heart's desires!

Hymn-ful Sundays! In the Cross

This week's hymn is another one by Fanny Crosby! I've featured a few of her hymns before, much earlier this year. Fanny Crosby was a blind hymnwriter from the nineteenth century. Called one of the most prolific hymnwriters ever, Fanny wrote over 8000 hymns.